Next!

“Next!”

I step up to a booth made of blue metal and glass windows, “Hi.”

A woman with curly brown hair hands me a piece of paper. “Hello, you’ve reached the end of the tunnel. You can go left or right, but you can’t choose both and neither are certain.” I look at the paper with fancy writing and my name scribbled across.

She looks over worked, the bags under her eyes are purple. Her bottom lip looks chapped from sun exposure and frequent biting. The slightly off-center name tag on her uniform reads Charlene

“But what should I choose?” I ask her.

Charlene’s eyes sharpen, “I said you can go left or you can go right. Neither are certain.” She turns her back to me and yells “Next!”

Goodbye Charlene. I hope you have a great day too. I step out of the line, walking to where the roads split.

Before me are two paths. I remember back to elementary school English, back to a poem about taking the road less traveled. Perhaps, good man Frost stood here before too.

It’s beautiful and terrifying in the same breath. Both are covered in fog. Nothing is clear except the mountain tops that peek out of the cloud coverage in the distance.

I close my eyes, inhale deeply and step forward.

I faintly hear Charlene giving the same speech to the same confused patrons of the tunnel as she did me. Her tone is unwavering with a smidgen of annoyance.

My feet guide me down the road, eyes still closed. I feel the air around me thicken with the fog. A heavy mist fills my lungs. My eyes open and I no longer hear Charlene. Looking back the road has crumbled behind me. I’ll never know if I went right or left, but my feet have chosen and I can’t turn back.

How many other people have gone this way? Do they all get trapped?

You see, I did this thing called life. I went away from my friends and family in search of an adventure. Trying to better myself.

I knew if I stayed in the town that I was from then I wouldn’t be happy. So I left on this journey in hopes to find who I wanted to be. And now I’m here. On this foggy road that is even more confusing.

...and I have to keep walking forward.